{"id":11305,"date":"2013-06-10T01:00:31","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=11305"},"modified":"2013-06-06T10:03:51","modified_gmt":"2013-06-06T14:03:51","slug":"blowin-wind-with-holy-grails-james-paul-luna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=11305","title":{"rendered":"Blowin’ Wind with Holy Grail’s James Paul Luna: \u201cI just live for performing. I love performing for people and I love singing the music we\u2019re playing.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Img_0560\"<\/a>Since 2009, I have been following Holy Grail like a freak stalker of sorts. From the release of their debut EP Improper Burial to their latest full length album Ride the Void, Holy Grail has honed their craft and continued to blow me away. They have become a force to be reckoned with and they continue to win over new fans the old school way: word of mouth and relentless touring.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Fresh off the heals of this summer’s Metal Alliance tour with Anthrax, Exodus, Municipal Waste, and Shadows Fall, I had the chance to catch up with Holy Grail singer James Paul Luna from his home in California. It was great to catch up with him once again as we discussed the latest album Ride the Void, his love of rare and obscure metal bands, and his excitement about Holy Grail’s summer headlining tour of the US. Kick back and read on Fartheads!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Hey Luna, thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview brother.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No worries man. How are you?<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m great dude. I was so glad to catch up with you guys in Charlotte on the Metal Alliance tour. What a great show that was.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah. That was a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

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Before we get started, I had to ask you about your thoughts on Jeff Hanneman\u2019s recent passing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s crazy. I still can\u2019t process it. I never got to meet Jeff but it felt like we were close to a lot of people in that family of the Big 4 and the Bay Area thrash scene. It was just really a shocker to everyone.<\/p>\n

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Man, when I first saw the news online, I thought it was an Onion article or something.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah. Well, somebody texted me today saying that Jim Gillette died today and I was like, \u201cWhat?\u201d Someone posted that he died in a Jet Ski accident but I couldn\u2019t find anything about that anywhere [laughs].<\/p>\n

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Well, regardless, I feel like all my heroes are dying more and more so I have to say \"holygrail-ridethevoid-620x620\"<\/a>kudos to the younger bands like Holy Grail for keeping this shit alive. Us old dudes are counting on you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] Well, we\u2019re not that much younger any more. We\u2019re getting up there.<\/p>\n

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Ride the Void<\/em> is the first album to feature your new guitarist Alex Lee. How did the writing process differ from the last one being that you\u2019ve got a new guitarist in the fold?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The only real difference is that we had more input and more to choose from. It opened a lot more possibilities and in terms of solos, we got killer solos on all the songs. The interchange between Eli and Alex and the way they play off of each other is really fun. With Alex coming from Bonded By Blood which was more of a thrash band, it really added a whole other spectrum.<\/p>\n

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While you were working on this album, did you at any point look back on Crisis in Utopia<\/em> and say, \u201cI wish I would\u2019ve done this or that differently?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

We thought that about Crisis In Utopia<\/em> from the get go. We never thought that Crisis In Utopia<\/em> was where we wanted it to be so we tried to do that with Ride the Void<\/em>. Nothing ever feels perfect but it just felt like a better place to be in because we hit more of the points that we wanted to get across. We just felt a lot more comfortable with our finished product versus the first record where we had to approve mixes and masters while we were on tour. Everything just got so rushed and pushed behind deadline. This time around it was just so much smoother. Matt Hyde (producer) really helped bring it all together and to keep everything on schedule.<\/p>\n

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So you feel like you guys had a bit more control over Ride the Void<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah. More control and more time to actually work on it and focus on it all.<\/p>\n

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It seems to me that you guys are honing your craft and just becoming a better band with each passing tour. How much did all the touring and world experiences that you guys got from all the touring you guys did bleed into the songwriting for Ride the Void<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d say all of it. Every band we play with, whether we know it or not, subconsciously have an effect on us. On a song like \u201cCrosswinds\u201d which has a kind of punk type of crossover inspiration to it could be directly linked to us touring with Toxic Holocaust and Crumbums. Eli was listening to a lot of Amon Amarth when he came up the riff for \u201cRide the Void.\u201d We just digested a lot of stuff and like you said, our chops got better we just honed our craft a little more just being on tour so much. We were really excited to go in and record some new stuff. I think this record is proof of that.<\/p>\n

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The Metal Alliance Tour was the first tour for you guys to get out there supporting Ride the Void<\/em>. How did it feel to finally get out there and play some new material for the fans?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was very cool and on this tour most of the people hadn\u2019t heard of us before. It was awesome to see the response from the crowds and how they would come and buy the CD afterwards. Seeing people who had never heard of us being so stoked about our band was really awesome.<\/p>\n

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So the one question a lot of my readers who are Holy Grail fans ask me is, \u201cDude, will you ask Luna if they\u2019re ever going to release \u201cFor all Eternity?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] Well, we have a few songs from those sessions and I\u2019m thinking about doing maybe a 12\u201d someday of the whole Sorcerer sessions. It\u2019s the same sessions that \u201cFight to Kill\u201d and \u201cImmortal Man\u201d from Improper Burial<\/em> came from. People really liked that raw, self-produced stuff. We recorded it at the same place that we did all our recordings with Chris Rakestraw and Tyler (Mehal; drummer) mixed them. They sound awesome and someday I\u2019m going to try and release them. I don\u2019t know when but we\u2019ll release it eventually. Specifically I\u2019m not really allowed to say whether we\u2019re going to or not but it\u2019ll happen [laughs].<\/p>\n

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Speaking of singles, I never got to thank you guys for sending me a copy of the Seasons Bleeding<\/em> 7\u201d for Christmas where you did an amazing cover of \u201cNo Presents for Christmas\u201d by King Diamond and \u201cKill the King\u201d by Rainbow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh yeah. Glad you liked it man.<\/p>\n

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Did you ever get any feedback from either party about your covers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No [laughs]. I tried to mention to them and tweet both camps about it and I never got a response. Maybe now that we\u2019re bit more in with the Dio camp I can send them a copy of it and see what they think.<\/p>\n

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\"holygrail2012\"<\/a>Since we\u2019re talking about covers, have you ever thought about doing a covers album kind of like your recent tour partners Anthrax did?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have. I love doing covers but it\u2019s hard to get five guys to learn a song in general since we embarrassingly enough rarely rehearse [laughs]. We have been talking about some covers just for fun though like maybe doing some UFO and Scorpions stuff.<\/p>\n

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After all this touring, what\u2019s up next for you guys?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re doing a headlining run through US and Canada starting on June 19th that will be us and maybe some local openers in each city so that will be rad.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m so pumped about this and there is an Atlanta date right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely man. We\u2019re looking forward to getting back to Atlanta again. It\u2019s been a while!<\/p>\n

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Ok Luna. Time once again to loosen things up here. If you could have dinner with any musician alive or dead, who would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Man, the first person that comes to my mind is George Harrison. That would be an interesting time. I saw that documentary that came out on him not too long ago and that just seemed so profound, down to earth, and awesome.<\/p>\n

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Oh the one that Martin Scorcesse put out?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, that one. It was insanely great. Any time to be able chat with that guy would be amazing. George Harrison was also my first concert. When I was 5, my dad flew the two of us to Japan to see Eric Clapton and George Harrison at the Tokyo Thunderdome.<\/p>\n

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At five years old? Holy shit that is insane dude.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] The only thing that I remember was that everyone was entirely silent during the songs but then in between the songs, it was like this soft clap that was projected like thousands of times. It was like the loudest soft clap ever []laughs]. It just sounded like a million fluttering butterflies.<\/p>\n

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Do you feel like that concert helped to point you in the direction of being a musician?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it did. My dad has always been fanatical about music. His favorite band is the Beatles so that\u2019s what we grew up listening to all the time. We listened to the Beatles, Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin, that kind of stuff. I really took hold of all of that 60\u2019s and 70\u2019s garage rock stuff. My dad had all these 45\u2019s and I had this little Fisher Price 45\u2019 player. I would just listen to Zeppelin and Sabbath and just think, \u201cWhat is this music? This is amazing!\u201d<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s something so cool about digging through your parent\u2019s records and finding something that just clicks with you. It\u2019s like finding a really cool gem or something.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh I know! Towards the end of high school I got really obsessed with collecting vinyl and it was that same kind of rush. Like you go into this record store and you see a cool cover. You don\u2019t know what it is but you just go, \u201cMan, I just need to buy that right now!\u201d because of the song titles and the cover. I feel like that\u2019s kind of lost these days and people can just get it. I wasn\u2019t involved in a heavy tape trading circuit but I can only imagine the days of tape trading where you\u2019d write to a dude in the back of a magazine that would send you a demo tape of some power metal band or like Metallica\u2019s No Life Til\u2019 Leathe<\/em>r tape. That would\u2019ve been amazing.<\/p>\n

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Speaking of collecting stuff, I know you\u2019re a big collector of obscure metal bands. What is something you can tip me off to that I should check out?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, there are some bands that are so obscure that they don\u2019t have a lot of material but I like this band called Black Rose. There are a lot of Black Roses out there but they have this 12\u201d called Red Light Lady<\/em> and they\u2019re amazing. It\u2019s kind of like Deep Purple meets Girl. It\u2019s really cool. It\u2019s poppy and heavy and it sounds almost Swedish from the late 70\u2019s, early 80\u2019s. Warrior is another cool band. Have you ever heard Bleakhouse?<\/p>\n